Sponsor
Support for this work was provided in part by NASA Grant Nos. NNX13AN97G and NNX13AH06G as well as Research Stimulus funds provided by Portland State University.
Published In
American Journal of Physics
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
10-2016
Subjects
Laser Doppler velocimetry, Mice (Computers), Surface emitting lasers, Photodiodes, Signal processing
Abstract
A computer mouse has been modified for use as a low-cost laser Doppler interferometer and used to measure the two-component fluid velocity of a flowing soap film. The mouse sensor contains two vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, photodiodes, and signal processing hardware integrated into a single package, approximately 1 cm2 in size, and interfaces to a host computer via a standard USB port. Using the principle of self-mixing interferometry, whereby laser light re-enters the laser cavity after being scattered from a moving target, the Doppler shift and velocity of scatterers dispersed in the flow are measured. Observations of the boundary layer in a turbulent soap film channel flow demonstrate the capabilities of the sensor.
DOI
10.1119/1.4960466
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/19312
Citation Details
Zaron, E. D. (2016). Laser Doppler velocimetry using a modified computer mouse. American Journal of Physics, 84(10), 810-813.
Description
Copyright 2016 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. The definitive publisher version is available here.